Sun and Moon
by MyNameIsJeanValjeanAndImJavert
Summary: Ginny doesn't notice Luna much her first year, but in her second, they become great friends. In their third, they go to the Yule Ball together- as friends, of course. Because that's all they are- friends, nothing more. Spans from first year to Post-Hogwarts- basically just how a relationship between Ginny and Luna might progress, because they are adorable. AU. Femslash, obviously.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: not my characters, not my world!

 **A.N.: This is my first fanfiction, so I don't know if it's any good! Please review and let me know what you think; constructive criticism is welcome! I'll try and update around once a week, but it might be sporadic. Also, btw, this story is AU- Ginny and Harry never get together, because I love Harry and I don't want to break his heart. Anyway, thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!**

 **xoxo**

 **-S**

Understandably, Ginny didn't interact with Luna much their first year. Ginny was busy with other things- like getting possessed, and accidentally opening the Chamber of Secrets itself. And they were in separate houses. And Luna wasn't the type to go try and make friends, really, she was just _there_ , babbling about strange creatures and getting bizarrely high grades.

Ginny only really noticed her twice that year. The first time was her very first History of Magic class, which she had thought would be really boring, since all her brothers complained about it a lot. And, even worse, they'd be sharing with the Ravenclaws and would get massively surpassed in knowledge. Ginny wouldn't be surprised if every Ravenclaw in the class had already learned the textbook by heart (Ginny herself was straddled with a used copy, and had only opened it to look at the funny doodles).

Anyway, this was before the whole evil-wizard-possession thing, and Ginny was still relatively optimistic and determined to pay attention, even if it _was_ History of Magic and they _were_ partnered with the Ravenclaws. And then Professor Binns gave a short speech in the importance of history, and began to lecture about the origins of magic, which was apparently almost entirely speculation. He talked vaguely of elemental beginnings, and instinctual and accidental magic, and said many technical terms.

It was extremely dull. Ginny felt her resolution rapidly slipping away, and she began to doodle stars on her parchment.

Then, someone interrupted Professor Binns.

It was a very tiny girl - a Ravenclaw, thought Ginny tiredly- sitting in the very back row. She had straggly blond hair and large blue eyes. She would have been rather cute, except she was wearing a lot of bright, colorful jewelry, which was distracting.

"But sir," she said serenely, "isn't it true that magic comes from the sun and the moon? Many wizarding cultures have myths that they came down to Earth in human form and gave the gift of magic to wizards and witches. And as you said, magic has two basic forms- fiery and icy, and that fits the sun and moon hypothesis. And many famous magical theorists have speculated that-"

"I must stop you there, young lady," said Professor Binns, sounding rather irritated. "And what is your name?"

"Luna Lovegood, sir," said Luna Lovegood.

"Well, Miss Lovegood, this is a very common myth that stems from uncivilized cultures, and has been generally debunked by the Britain's wizarding community as a whole. It results from the common fallacy of taking fable for fact.."

As Binns continued, Ginny looked towards Luna for her reaction. Professor Binns had spoken in a nasty, disapproving sort of voice, and most of the Ravenclaws and some of the Gryffindors were giggling softly.

But Luna just sat there obliviously, staring into space.

Later, Ginny would envy Luna her unnatural ability to ignore the whispers, the laughs, the scornful looks. For now, she just looked on in wonder.

The second time, she heard the entire story second-hand from Colin Creevey. She wasn't sure that it was entirely true, since Colin was prone to exaggerating, but either way, _something_ was up with Luna Lovegood.

Snape had been walking around the fourth-floor late at night, possibly up to some very sinister or sketchy business. Suddenly, he had heard an eerie song. He immediately assumed a defensive posture, as it may have been an evil spirit, and took out his wand.

Then, Luna Lovegood had rounded the corner. She looked a little ghost-like, sure, with her pale straggly hair and big eyes and flowing white nightgown, but Snape realized she wasn't a ghost and became furious at the deception. Different accounts, though, said he was only angry because Luna called him a bat, or because he had missed dinner.

What was clear, though, was that Snape had given her detention and deducted a number of points from Ravenclaw. Then, he had asked Miss Lovegood exactly what she was doing so foolishly in the middle of the night:

"Well, sir," she had said in her usual dreamy manner, "I'm looking for Wrackspurts. They love song, you know, and are elusive during the day,"

Snape, apparently, was very flustered at this point, but tried to keep his dignity:

"And why, may I ask," he said icily, "Are you looking for these.. Wrackspurts?"

"Well, anyone who so happens upon them is granted three wishes!"

According to the rest of the tale, Snape had then gone looking for Wrackspurts, and when he couldn't find them, Luna informed him that they were allergic to bats, and he had thrown her into the dungeons. She had escaped on the back of a phoenix and foiled Snape's evil plans for revenge.

"Uh-huh," said Ginny, raising an eyebrow.

"It's true, all of it!" protested Colin.

And maybe some of it was. Ginny looked over to the Ravenclaw table and looked at Luna. Granted, she seemed as normal- or abnormal- as ever, but the other members of her house were shooting annoyed glances and whispering rudely.

But then Colin distracted her again, and she forgot all about Luna.


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.: to harrypottercrookshanks: Thanks so much for the review! You really made my day :D I'm so glad you like it! And I promise I won't abandon this story. I'm updating early because I'll be busy on Monday. Again, if anybody has any ideas/commentary/whatever, please review!**

 **Have a lovely day everybody!**

 **xoxo**

 **-S**

Needless to say, the summer before her second year was tough for Ginny. First of all, she couldn't manage to shake the feeling of danger all the time, even when she knew she was safe. And she couldn't forget the silkiness of Riddle's voice, or the way her mum wouldn't stop crying afterwards, when it was all over.

Second was the way everyone treated her, like some delicate glass object about to shatter into a million pieces. At first it had been nice, when she really did feel like breaking down, to have her mum make her cookies and watch over her and hug her a lot. But then it started getting irritating, and her whole family was doing it- "Don't go out alone, Ginny," they said, and "Why don't you stay inside today," as though Tom Riddle and his basilisk were hiding down in the Ottery ice cream shop.

The last few weeks of school had been really bad, too. Ginny hadn't really made any friends, and she received an awful lot of funny looks, and conversations tended to stop suddenly when she entered a room. Mostly people hadn't been rude, or anything. They just pitied her, which was worse. It's hard to punch someone who just feels sorry for you.

As it was, Ginny was very glad when the summer holidays came. At least now the only people annoying her were her parents and brothers.

But Ginny, more than anything else, was a tenacious soul. She was determined to go back to Hogwarts and prove them all wrong. She wasn't sure who "they" were, or what exactly she was proving, but she knew she was going to work hard. And hex anyone who looked at her wrong. She was going to get herself a gang of friends and possibly a boyfriend, too. And, she thought with a sudden burst of inspiration, she was going to be a Chaser on the Quidditch team.

The next day, her mother had tentatively brought up the subject of Hogwarts.

"It sounds great, Mum," she had said, grinning brightly at her mother's surprised face.

She began reading through all her textbooks that day, and discovered a fun little spell called the Bat-Bogey Hex. She decided to try it as soon as she had a chance. Also, in order to get a spot on the Quidditch team, she began sneaking out at night and borrowing her brothers' broomsticks.

"Where _did_ you get those bruises?" asked her mother one night while they were eating chicken soup for dinner

"Er," she began, letting the broth fall off her spoon into the bowl, and thinking of how she had fallen ten feet from George's old broom yesterday night.

Luckily, George burst in at this opportune moment.

"Ron!" he called angrily. "Did you touch my broom?"

Ginny smiled into her soup. Soon, Molly Weasley was shouting at the irate George and the unfortunate Ron, while Ginny quietly finished eating.

The summer went fairly quickly, at least. June, July and August all came and went, while Ginny fought with her brothers by day, flew by night, and dreamed constantly of a world where she feared nothing.

On September first, she sat in a compartment with Neville Longbottom. He was nice, she thought, and he talked a lot about magical plants, which were pretty interesting.

Then, much earlier then it should have, the train stopped.

"That's odd," said Neville nervously.

"Yeah," said Ginny. In truth, she was as frightened as Neville, but she was also determined to never show anyone how afraid she was. "Maybe someone else knows what's going on?" She got up and slid open the compartment door.

The Hufflepuffs in the next compartment didn't know, so Ginny went in search of Ron or the twins or Percy, and Neville followed.

They eventually stumbled into Ron's compartment, where he was with Harry Potter and Hermione Granger and the shabby professor who saved them all from the dementors. Ginny had hated them. She had spent an entire summer trying to forget the events of last year, and then in five minutes they all came rushing back.

She slept poorly that night.

But, to be fair, this year was much better than the last. She wasn't failing her classes anymore, and she wasn't possessed by an evil wizard. And one day, she managed to both perform the Bat-Bogey Hex and befriend the illustrious Luna Lovegood.

She had just waved good-by to Eloise Midgen, a Gryffindor girl in her year who was nice, but sort of distant. They had been on their way to lunch from Transfiguration when Eloise realized she had left her book bag back in the classroom, so she had turned back.

She rounded the corner, nearly tripping over a suit of armor's splayed out leg, and came into a hallway. Then she stopped, frowning. Pansy Parkinson- a Slytherin third-year with a nasty reputation - appeared to be having a conversation with Luna Lovegood.

Ginny thought they were unlikely acquaintances and walked closer to see what was going on.

"Listen, Loony," said Pansy roughly, "I need the essay done by tomorrow or Professor Sinistra will flunk me. So finish it, or else,"

"Or else what?" said Luna innocently. Neither appeared to notice Ginny.

"Or else I'll hex you," said Pansy, pulling out her wand casually and examining it.

"Oh," said Luna. She sounded slightly sad. "Well, no thank you. I don't like cheaters," Then Luna turned and walked off. She didn't get very far.

" _Tarantallegra_!" cried Pansy angrily. A stream of blue light burst out of her wand and hit Luna squarely in the back. Luna cried out in dismay as her legs began to twitch and dance uncontrollably.

Pansy was laughing when Ginny hit her with the Bat-Bogey Hex. She stopped when she saw the flapping bumps all of her skin. She dropped her wand, and began to try and scrub them off, which didn't work at all, all the while shrieking and making all sorts of inhuman sounds.

"Listen, _Parkinson_ ," spat Ginny, aiming her wand at Pansy's throat. Pansy froze. "I don't like cheaters or bullies, and Luna here has powerful friends. If you _ever_ hex her again,"-Ginny smiled airily- " Well, I know where you sleep,"

Which was a lie, but it worked well enough as Pansy whimpered and ran off in the direction of the hospital wing.

"Wow," said Ginny. "I'm really surprised that worked,"

"Excuse me," said Luna, who was still dancing uncontrollably.

"Oh, sorry," said Ginny, blushing. " _Finite Incantatem!_ "

"Thank you," said Luna. She straightened up and held out a hand to Ginny. Ginny shook it, bemused.

"I'm Ginny Weasley," she said.

"I know," said Luna seriously. "Are we really friends?"

"Um-what?"

"You said I had powerful friends, when you were threatening Pansy. Did you mean yourself?"

"Oh-I guess- I mean- we've only just met properly," finished Ginny. The words had sounded right at the time, but perhaps she had offended Luna. She was, after all, strange.

"Oh," said Luna, looking very disappointed. Ginny immediately felt guilty.

"Um, do you want to come eat lunch with me?" she said.

Luna immediately brightened up. She had a beautiful smile, Ginny noticed.

"Oh, that would be wonderful!"

And they walked off to the Great Hall. Luna talked most of the way, and Ginny learned a lot. It turned out that Luna got bullied a lot, and Ginny promised to hex any bullies. She was feeling protective of her new friend. But Luna talked more about other things. _Really weird_ other things, like heliopaths or goblins overthrowing the government.

But the weirdest thing about Luna was that Ginny liked her. She liked her oddball beliefs, even though most of them were completely preposterous, and she liked her constant sincerity. She especially liked the way Luna never seemed to judge her, and she liked that Luna was sweet and thoughtful.

They began to hang out together. After classes, before, even in-between if they had the chance. They laughed a lot and talked a lot. Ginny was very happy, although she had earned a number of detentions from hexing Luna's bullies.

They both went away for the Christmas holidays, but wrote letters. Luna's letters were strange things- meandering and full of ideas, like Luna herself. As for Ginny, she had never been very good with words, but she did her best to tell Luna funny stories or other things she'd like, though in the end, Ginny's letters were mostly full of doodles and complaints of brothers and pressed flowers.

Luna didn't seem to mind.

After the holidays, Luna found Ginny at King's Cross and hugged her tightly. Then she began to talk about her New Year's celebrations- apparently it was good luck to dance the waltz on New Year's, but only if you were wearing red.

"I've never been one much for dancing," said Ginny, which inevitably led to Luna being much distraught, which inevitably led to Luna trying to teach Ginny to dance the waltz in the middle of a bumpy train ride.

Luna spun Ginny around and around. They were dancing horribly, and there was no music, but Ginny thought this could be almost as fun as Quidditch. They both collapsed onto the bench, laughing, when the trolley lady came to a stop outside their compartment.

After that, they were both tired, and instead just talked the rest of the way, although Ginny did teach Luna how to do a four-strand braid. Which she regretted a little later that term, because Luna constantly had her hair in at least a dozen braids. Luna's hair was much prettier down, thought Ginny, and then wondered vaguely why she cared about her friend's hair so much.

At one point, Ginny discovered that Luna's birthday was February thirteenth, and made plans accordingly. She commissioned Ron's friend Hermione to buy Luna specific, pre-ordained gifts in Hogsmeade, since she didn't trust Ron at all.

She ended up finding Luna a funny necklace that was supposed to be good luck (because it was blessed by gnomes, which Ginny thought unlikely) and a book about mermaids. They were perfect gifts, thought Ginny, pleased. She then laid the matter to rest and let it slip from her mind.

Unfortunately, she forgot all about it on Luna's actual birthday, and ended up giving Luna her gifts, embarrassed, on Valentine's day instead. The day was also sort of awkward, because Ginny had received a Valentine, and had no idea who it was from.

Luna, though, took no notice. She smiled brightly and hugged Ginny, and mentioned in a matter-of-fact tone that Ginny was the first friend to give her gifts for her birthday.

"Oh," said Ginny, frowning. She was about to go on, but Luna interrupted her, gushing about gnomes and mermaids in the way Ginny gushed about Quidditch and adventures, in the way that Hermione gushed about theories of magic and numerology, in the way that anyone who is passionate about something will gush.

Ginny found herself thinking that Luna was quite cute.

The rest of the year passed in similar fashion, and they parted with promises to write and visit, since apparently they lived close.

As a parting gift, Luna gave Ginny a braided bracelet.

"It's a friendship bracelet," she said solemnly, tying it round Ginny's wrist. "You've got to match them," She held up her wrist. "See? I have one too."

"Okay," said Ginny, amused and touched. "Thank you,"

"You're welcome," said Luna, grinning. Then, suddenly, she turned and ran off.

Ginny watched her go, feeling lonely.


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N. And here is Chapter Three, covering third year! Yay! Again, please review everyone, and have a lovely day! Thanks for reading! also Guest: aww thanks! You're very sweet. harrypottercrookshanks: oh my goodness, you are so flattering! Thank you so much :)**

 **xoxo**

 **-S**

The summer of 1995 was an important time for the world. President Clinton announced regular relations beginning between the U.S. and Vietnam. A heat wave in Europe was killing hundreds. It was ten years since President Reagan was sworn in for his second term, and ten years before the invention of Youtube.

But for the wizarding world, it seemed ordinary. The Quidditch World Cup was held that summer in Britain, and Ireland won.

No-one realized the Dark Lord was returning.

As for Ginny, she had a peaceful summer, much better than her last. The Quidditch World Cup was very enjoyable for her, even though Luna couldn't come- that was, until the riot started.

To be truthful, Ginny hadn't really been noticing the tremors coming through the wizarding world, the first signs of the storm that was to come. She was thirteen in August (receiving a strange blue flower in a pot from Luna, and a very boring book from Hermione), and like most thirteen-year-olds, she didn't notice much in the way of politics. Perhaps her father seemed more tired lately, and her mother more worried, but Ginny simply assumed they were getting old.

For her elective courses, Ginny had chosen Muggle Studies and Care of Magical Creatures. Both were rather unpopular, but Ginny liked learning about the Muggle world, which she had presumably inherited from her father. As for Care of Magical Creatures, it had a scary reputation, so Ginny did it as a matter of pride.

Luna didn't take either, instead choosing Numerology and Ancient Runes. According to a few conversations Ginny had accidentally overheard while pressing her ear to the door of the teacher's lounge (which she tried not to make a habit of; but really, it was so _interesting_ ) Luna was brilliant in Numerology but decidedly backwards in Ancient Runes, as she insisted on believing in alternate meanings of every rune, and that they were originally invented by a species of intelligent trolls.

Given the fact that Ginny was no longer constantly in Luna's presence, more people started talking to her, probably because Luna tended to scare people off. To Ginny's infinite surprise, she found herself growing quite popular. She would hang out with Eloise Midgen in Care of Magical Creatures and Wanda Tellsie, a Hufflepuff, in Muggle Studies. Both proved to be nice friends, although Eloise, who was very skeptical (McGonagall had had a very difficult time convincing her magic existed, back when she was eleven- rumor went around she had to actually transform into a cat) would argue with Luna for hours on end. But it was a friendly sort of argument, the type where Wanda and Ginny would be crying with laughter after Eloise made a snarky comment or Luna spouted nonsense profoundly.

The Triwizard Tournament was interesting as well. Ginny got to meet French students and Bulgarian, and they proved to be interesting, although most of them were older than her. And of course, once word got out that there would be a Yule Ball over the Christmas break, the third-year girls were thrilled. Wanda even managed to snag a date with another third-year Hufflepuff (to Ginny's great amusement), before it was revealed that the ball would be only for fourth-years and up.

Obviously, there was outrage. Ginny and Eloise begged McGonagall to be allowed to go, but she was exasperated and facing a lot of similar requests and banished them unceremoniously. Wanda had better luck with Sprout, who seemed sympathetic but remained firm. Luna was finally convinced to ask Flitwick, but he dismissed her like all the others.

As no-one quite had the courage to ask Dumbledore, they had to accept their fate. Wanda and Eloise decided to go home for the holidays. Ginny, however, decided to stay. Why, she didn't exactly know, only that she was being defiant and proving some sort of point about stupid age limits.

Luna was staying also, but nobody really knew why Luna did anything. When Ginny asked her, she said she just liked the way Hogwarts was at Christmas.

The night of the Yule Ball came. Ginny had crawled up to her empty dorm to feel sorry for herself and stare wistfully at her bright orange dress. It had clashed terribly with her hair.

Ginny hadn't even been that excited about the ball, but once told that she couldn't go, it had become that much more important. It was a sense of indignation that propelled her forward now.

Ginny put on her dress, put her hair up, and went to fetch Luna.

"What is it, Ginny?" said Luna. Ginny hadn't managed to guess the answer to the riddle to get inside the Ravenclaw Common Room, but Luna had, inexplicably, come out anyway.

"Wait- how did you know I was here?" asked Ginny, ignoring Luna's question. "And how did you know to wear your dress, and put your hair up?" Luna was looking quite lovely, in a pale blue dress, with her long hair half-up.

"I had a feeling," said Luna vaguely.

"Okay," said Ginny slowly. "Um. Yes. Anyway. We're going to sneak into the Yule Ball,"

"Are we really?" said Luna. She sounded excited.

"Yes," said Ginny firmly, and they left.

It took them a long time to make their way in, as they had to avoid Filch, and , and all the teachers, and any nosy people. Then they noticed that Professor McGonagall was practically standing guard outside the Great Hall, wearing a distinctly annoyed expression.

"What do we do now?" whispered Luna. Ginny risked another look around the corner; McGonagall was still there.

"This is the sneaking in part," said Ginny.

It took them a while, but eventually they managed to slip in behind McGonagall's back when she spoke with Professor Sprout. After that, they were home-free: they only needed to avoid the stern gazes of the professors, and they could blend in among the twirling and tumbling dancers.

The party had begun a while back, and the music had gotten better, so Ginny and Luna began to dance. Luna was good and Ginny mediocre, but no-one was paying them any attention, so Ginny let the music get the better of her and began to sway.

She felt quite happy. She was doing something moderately stupid, but she was thirteen years old and a Gryffindor, so why not? And dancing with Luna was fun, surprisingly fun, given the fact that Ginny had never really liked dancing.

After a while, though, they decided to get something to eat and drink. Luna went off in search of eclairs, and Ginny in search of punch. She was pouring herself some sparkling purple liquid when someone called her name in a surprised tone:

"Ginny?"

" _Hermione?_ " It was an actual question; Hermione looked fabulous but very different, with her silky hair and flowing dress. "Wow, you look nice,"

Hermione had mentioned that she was going with Viktor Krum, (which Ginny had thought cute), but she hadn't realized Hermione would be looking so.. well, different.

"Thank you Ginny!" said Hermione, smiling. Ginny noticed, though, that she looked a little flustered.

"Is something the matter?" Ginny asked.

"No- just- your stupid brother, I suppose,"

Ginny was going to ask which one, but Hermione's irritated glance at Ron answered her question.

"Anyway," said Hermione briskly, "Who are you here with? I thought you were too young,"

"Technically," said Ginny, "But it's not like anyone's checking ID,"

For a moment, Hermione got a funny look on her face, and Ginny thought she was going to tell, or at least scold. But she seemed to be in a strange mood tonight, and shook it off.

"Oh. Then who are you with?"

"We came together," said Luna. She had appeared quite suddenly beside them, holding two plates of pastries. "Hello, Hermione."

"Oh," said Hermione, looking confused. Then, something clicked: " _Oh._ Are you two.. um.. dating, then?"

"What?" said Ginny, blushing. "No."

"We came as friends," said Luna matter-of-factly, as she picked up a macaron and inspected it.

"Oh.. sorry," said Hermione, looking embarrassed. "You're just.. close, is all.." she drifted off, and suddenly her face lit up: "Oh! There's Viktor. I better go. Have a nice time, you two!"

And she ran off.

Ginny fell asleep late that night: her head was full of music and dancing, and she was very awake. She'd had a very good time, she thought, so why did she feel sort of… let-down? Maybe it was just because it was the end of the holidays.

Unaided, the image of Luna laughing, her eyes sparkling and her hair flying, came to Ginny's mind.

Then, sighing and rolling onto her pillow, she remembered Luna saying, simply and truthfully, that they were only friends.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

 **Well hello there, friends! Here is your fourth chapter- I hope you like it. Thank you so much for reading, and please review if you can! Hugs and kisses to you all!**

 **Also: MysteryRiddle: why thank you :) and good catch! I didn't notice that, but I think I might leave it that way, just because of my "artistic license," (i.e. I'm lazy) .**

 **harrypottercrookshanks: I love Luna too! Who doesn't, right? :) And thank you so much for your kind words.**

 **Okay, on with the story! I realize at this point it's becoming very Ginny-centric, do y'all like it or should I change it to include Luna more?**

 **xoxo**

 **-S**

Later, Ginny would say that she grew up at fourteen, for a number of reasons. The Dark Lord had risen when she was thirteen, and attacked in the open when she was fifteen, but fourteen was when she believed it, and when she lived it.

The summer was important for a couple of reasons too, although they weren't as grim: first of all Ginny realized that she was _probably_ not straight, and learned to cook. The whole sexuality thing happened all at once, really- she had been lying on her bed, thinking of nothing much, when suddenly it occurred to her that being bisexual was a likely possibility and would explain a lot. As for the cooking thing, it was of her own volition. Her mother had long since given up trying to teach any of her children to cook, but Ginny decided to do it anyway, out of a mingled sense of curiosity, obstinacy, and boredom.

So the summer went by. Ginny often thought, when she was in a gloomy mood, that it was rather like her childhood- punctuated by dark occurrences and over much too quickly. At any rate, before long she was riding the Hogwarts express, chatting with Luna and introducing her to Harry and Neville, and then Hermione and Ron. And then there was another Sorting, and another ominous Sorting song, and another year had begun.

Ginny rather quickly discovered that she had a crush on her best friend, and just as quickly, decided never to act upon said discovery. Then, she promptly got busy defying the local government, whether that meant getting detentions with Snape or speaking up to Umbridge.

Really, the woman was terrible. She told them nothing, and treated them like infants. Also, her classes were boring, she was an obvious tool of the Ministry, she was oppressive and passed petty decrees, and, to everyone's utter and complete outrage, once temporarily banned the Gryffindor Quidditch Team.

Luna was liked by most of the teachers to a certain extent, but Umbridge seemed to despise Luna. Who didn't notice. And kept right on talking about the magical properties of Plimpies. It became a sort of famous tale, one that would be remembered for generations in Hogwarts halls'- about how Luna Lovegood, oddball Ravenclaw, had made Umbridge turn red and swell like a balloon.

It began when Umbridge had asked Luna what she was doing (Luna appeared to be doodling on her note paper). Luna had responded that she was attempting a summoning ritual.

"A ritual of what, exactly?" Umbridge had said sweetly, brushing back her perfect curls.

"Summoning," Luna said. "I am attempting to summon Heliopaths,"

"In the middle of your Defense Against the Dark Arts class?"

Luna frowned. "I suppose so,"

"And you thought it appropriate to summon a .. heliopath, in this very important class?"

"Oh," said Luna, wrinkling her nose and squinting thoughtfully, "I didn't think it was terribly important,"

Luna had gotten a week's worth of detention for that, and Ginny had gotten one just for laughing so hard she cried, when the incident occurred. Umbridge had been fond of detentions, that day, she had also given some out to a few Ravenclaws just minutes after.

A while after, stories began about the detentions- stories about painful punishments. Then people stopped acting up quite so much. Then, Harry Potter, outcast of the Wizarding World, founded Dumbledore's Army (aptly named by Ginny). Ginny had, obviously, joined, and was pleased with her progress. Luna had proven to have a talent for jinxes, too, although she was awful at shields.

As well as recruiting Luna, Ginny also brought along her boyfriend, Michael Corner. Despite the fact of her crush on Luna (which she was attempting to ignore), she did like Michael. Although she did, eventually, dump him, as he was a sore loser when Quidditch season rolled around.

To Ginny's immense satisfaction, she made Chaser on the Quidditch team, and proved to be good at it. It was very gratifying to have Ron amazedly ask when did she get so brilliant, or even to have Luna compliment Ginny on how nice she looked flying. After that particular comment, Ginny had walked around trying, and failing, not to smile all day.

Despite these typical, teenage developments- boyfriends and crushes and irritating authority figures- the year was far from normal. There were far too many disappearances, too many strange deaths, too many rumors.

The world was growing dark and cold.

Then Christmas came, and her father almost died when he was bitten by a huge snake. That had shaken everything: Ginny had always had the stupid, naïve faith that her family would simply always be there, and suddenly, that faith was gone. It was, she thought, the worst Christmas in years.

But they carried on. It was the only thing they could do, really, and Ginny kept dating people, and studying things, and doing all those normal teenager things. But she worked hard in the D.A., and read the newspapers daily, and wrote home constantly. There was a mood of dread in the air- no-one believed You-Know-Who was back, not _really_ , but something was going on.

But that was the thing, wasn't it- Ginny did believe it. She believed that the Dark Lord had risen once more, which meant she must also believe that war was coming.

And come it did. As usual, trouble was ushered in by the worried face of Harry, and Ginny, ever the daring, reckless soul, decided to help him do whatever it was he needed to do. Which at the moment meant breaking into Umbridge's office.

To Ginny's surprise, Neville and Luna also joined her. For a few shining minutes, they really were Dumbledore's army- brave and fearless soldiers, fighting for the light against a terrible evil.

And then the Inquisitorial Squad came along, and they were captured and taken to the Toad's office.

It was a tight space, and there were too many people in there. Ginny was held tightly by some Slytherin thug, as were the others. At first, Ginny had only been worried about the immediate consequences- her parent's disappointment, perhaps even being expelled. But then she saw Harry, Ron and Hermione's faces, saw their desperation, and heard their cryptic message:

Something had happened to Sirius Black, and he was now probably dead.

Ginny hadn't known the man well, as she was slightly apprehensive around convicted felons. But after a while, she had gotten over her nervousness some, and discovered that he was sort of amusing. But that was, really, as far as their interactions went.

This was bad enough, but worse was the knowledge that Death Eaters had probably taken him, which meant that Death Eaters were out causing death and destruction, and right now, only six teenagers new about it.

Or four, really, since Neville and Luna didn't know about the Order yet.

Ginny felt remarkably small and insignificant. _Really Important Things_ were happening, and she was doing nothing except standing and watching and generally being no help at all. She was also very afraid, as she assumed they all were. Except, perhaps, Hermione, who was executing some brilliant plan that completely confused Ginny.

She cried first, and everyone believed it, until she began talking about some strange weapon. Ginny could see by Ron's and Harry's faces that that wasn't any part of it. She glared at Ron until his surprised expression vanished somewhat.

Then, Umbridge left, bringing Harry and Hermione with her. Ginny, Neville, Luna and Ron were left, with a few Slytherins holding them captive.

Slowly and carefully, Luna made eye contact with each of them, then clenched her fist. Ginny assumed that meant fight, which was confirmed a moment later when Luna promptly punched her captor- one Millicent Bulstrode- in the nose.

For a brief instant, Ginny entertained a surprise that Luna could punch people. Then she snatched the wands out of Crabbe's hands (he was just standing there stupidly, staring in surprise at Bulstrode), and hexed him. Then she threw Ron a wand, and he caught it, having squirmed free from Goyle. Neville had somehow managed to elbow his captor- a nameless Slytherin six-year Ginny didn't recognize- in the stomach and stunned him with ease.

They looked at each other in elation and faint surprise. Apparently, the D.A. had come in handy after all.

"What next?" asked Luna.

"We go find them," said Ron simply, and off they went.

It seemed as though everyone was off celebrating the ends of exams, because they ran into no-one on their way out. Or perhaps people were just too intimidated to questionr them- after all, Luna and Neville had bruises on their knuckles, and Ron was sporting a black eye. Ginny herself felt rather frightening, too, but that was probably her imagination.

By the time they exited the Great Hall, they could just see three small figures entering the Forbidden Forest.

They stopped again, to look at each other in confusion. Then, wordlessly, they went onwards. And they found Harry and Hermione in no need of assistance, as Umbridge had, apparently, been carried off by a herd of centaurs. Ginny began to look at Hermione with fresh respect, after that.

And then Harry was arguing loudly and stupidly that they ought not to come, and Ginny was, of course, not listening, and arguing back, and then Luna somehow resolved the argument and made them all climb on the invisible death-horses, which was nerve-wracking, to say the least. It also gave Ginny some time to think, mostly about how she didn't want to die so young, but if she _absolutely had to_ , this was a pretty good way to go.

Remarkably, Ginny Weasley did not die that day, making it out with nothing more than a broken ankle and considerable mental trauma- the sort that comes from a teenager being convinced of their imminent doom, and seeing death. The Threstrals weren't invisible anymore.

Ginny had always thought- in a sort of subconscious, unintentional way -that Luna would not be a very good fighter. She just didn't seem the type. Not dreamy Luna, with her conspiracy theories and bizarre jewelry. Not her. She was evidently not a warrior.

Ginny was not terribly foolish, and had thus realized that she herself would probably fare poorly when confronted with Death Eaters. To her complete surprise, though, Luna proved very capable, and Ginny had been proud of herself, too, until she broke her ankle, and things sort of went downhill from there.

Really, the whole experience was a blur. She would remember other, later battles clearer, but for now is was a huge mess of pain and fear. In the midst of it all, though, she was grateful to Luna, for being there.


	5. Chapter 5

**A.N.**

 **Hello you lovely people here is another chapter! As always, please review and thank you SO much for reading, it encourages me so much! Also, I was thinking of changing the title to something less vague, if anyone has ideas I'd be happy to hear them! Also, I realized that I forgot to include the whole Percy arc in the last chapter, which would probably have a big effect on Ginny, so I'll edit that in later.**

 **harrypottercrookshanks: you are so sweet! I would never take offense at your comments. I want to improve my writing, so all response is welcome! Actually, I think I agree with you on that section. Writing it I knew it had to happen as a plot point, but I wasn't sure how, and it came out a little unrealistic, I think. When I finish the fic, I'll probably go back and edit it. But thank you so much for reviewing, it always makes my day!:D**

 **Guest: Thank you so much for reviewing! Your words are so kind and really encourage me. I've gotten a bunch of people saying they love Luna too! Isn't she a great character? :D**

 **Okay, I'll stop gushing now. On with the story!**

 **xoxo**

 **-S**

The summer before Ginny's fifth year was filled with turmoil. Obviously. She didn't know what, exactly, she had been expecting. Whatever it was, this was worse. There were daily attacks, disappearances murders. The ministry was working overtime, but they didn't seem to get anything done.

No-one really trusted _The Daily Prophet_ anymore, but it did have some news, so most everyone was subscribed. Ginny often thought they needed a better system. An owl could only be in one place at once, and most witches and wizards couldn't cast patronuses.

To everyone's shock, Fred and George had somehow acquired enough funding to star a business. And run it, very successfully. The place was a booming business. Or so Ginny heard, as her mother wouldn't let her actually see the place.

Ginny felt like she was clashing with her family a lot this summer, actually. Her mother was, in Ginny's opinion, much too overprotective and wouldn't let Ginny actually do anything fun. Her father was gone all the time, understandably, but _still._ Percy, of course, was never mentioned. Charlie was in Romania. Ron was constantly plaguing her about her stream of boyfriends (and a couple girlfriends too, actually, but Ron hadn't noticed _them_ ). Ginny would have liked to spend time with Fred and George, but they had abandoned her to have grand adventures. And Bill was the worst: he was getting married, to a beautiful French girl, who Ginny hated.

Her name was Fleur, which was bad enough in and of itself. Worse, she had to stay the Burrow, for some bizarre reason. She was snobby and patronizing and ridiculously vain and French, and Bill was hopelessly in love with her, which was probably the only reason Fleur didn't find herself hexed daily by the irate Ginny.

As it was, Ginny called her Phlegm in private and avoided her at all costs, to escape the constant "Oh, eet iz leetle Ginny. Mon cherie, will 'ou hold thees?" Flour would pinch her cheek and Ginny would roll her eyes and then Molly would reprimand her for being rude, as though she wasn't itching to do the same thing.

It was a trying summer, full of inconveniences and irritations, and shadowed over by worse, bigger problems.

She was finally able to escape the Burrow when they went shopping for school supplies. To be honest, Ginny didn't get much shopping done: she was spending altogether too much time in Fred and George's remarkable new shop. It was everything Ginny loved: chaotic, funny, wild, full to bursting with completely useless devices, and a wonderful source of income. Ginny ended up buying a Pygmy Puff, although she was annoyed that Fred and George wouldn't giver her a discount. They said it was just good business.

The Pygmy Puff (a pink ball of gently floating fluff with two small black eyes) was named Arnold, and he ended up starting a lot of trouble. Ginny had been riding the Hogwarts express as usual, when some idiotic Slytherin tried to steal Arnold.

Needless to say, Ginny jinxed him, and was feeling pleased with herself, until the teacher came by. She didn't get detention, but she was sort of forced into joining the Slug Club, which was probably worse. She was forced to go stuffy, boring parties all year with a rotating crowd of snobby people. And she had to bring dates to most of them, and every time, she would wish dreadfully that she could go with Luna.

When Christmas came around, Ginny was positive she was going to finally get up her courage and ask Luna to come with her, as _more_ than a friend, to Slughorn's Christmas party. And then, of course, Harry Potter absolutely _had_ to Luna first, and the chance was lost. Also, Ginny was left with the uncomfortable possibility that her best friend and crush might actually like Harry, considering how excited she was about it.

Ginny decided to instead confess all on Valentine's day, in a most romantic manner. That was over a month away, surely she would be prepared this time.

Meanwhile, schoolwork and Quidditch were overwhelming. She was a Chaser, and loved it, and they were in the running for the House Cup, but even she grew tired of the endless practices in the rain and mud and wind. Besides, this was O.W.L. year, and the teachers were pushing hard. Ginny ended up studying most every weekend and evening, and almost ever had the chance for a day or night off.

She had fallen behind in Transfiguration and Muggle Studies, and McGonagall was threatening detention if she failed to hand in her homework again, so Ginny was spending the second week in February working hard at night and missing sleep. Her sleep deprived brain actually completely forgot about Valentine's day.

That was until she, Luna, and Hermione were studying late on Friday night.

"That's it," Ginny declared, pushing back and throwing down her book. "I can't study anymore, this isn't how we ought to be spending Friday night,"

Hermione sighed. "I know," she said uncharacteristically. Ginny looked at her suspiciously.

"You do? Luna, do you hear this? Hermione doesn't want to study!"

Luna looked up. "Are you alright Hermione?" she said mischievously.

"I'm fine," said Hermione, annoyed. Then she sighed. "It's just.. what with it being Valentine's Day and all.."

 _Oh_ , thought Ginny. It was common knowledge that Hermione liked Ron and hadn't spoken to him since he started seeing Lavender Brown. Then, she thought _Oh!_ , as she remembered that it was Valentine's day. That was disappointing; she had had big plans for this day.

She glanced sideways at Luna.

"Let's go up to the Astronomy tower," Ginny said suddenly. "No-one will be up there, so we can look at the stars,"

Hermione looked at her, surprised. "But it's almost curfew," she said, "and Filch-"

"Oh, bother Filch," said Ginny. "We can avoid him,"

"Well, I'm going to bed," said Luna. "I'm sleepy. Good night," With that, she got up and left. Ginny stayed, looking after her forlornly. Hermione looked at Ginny, and then at Luna, and then at Ginny again.

"I'll come with you," said Hermione spontaneously. She was evidently in a reckless mood. They walked silently up to the tower, seeing no sign of Filch or anyone, except a lone weeping ghost, who ignored them.

Normally, Hogwarts at night was exciting, an adventure to explore; but tonight it felt cold and creepy. Ginny kept seeing light reflected in strange places and hearing funny creaks, and it was making her jumpy.

But they made it to the Astronomy tower with no significant incidents. Hermione sat down on one of the chairs beneath the main telescope, and Ginny perched on the window ledge. It was open, so that the telescope could be pushed through, and there was an icy wind.

"So," said Ginny at last, "What's up with you and Ron?"

Hermione bristled. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said. There was silence for a moment. "What about you and Luna?"

"The same,"

Hermione laughed. "I guess we're in the same boat, huh?"

"What?" said Ginny, mystified.

"Oh… Muggle thing. Never mind,"

"Oh," said Ginny uncomfortably. It was fairly obvious that although both did want to be with someone at the moment, that someone was not the other. Hermione dreamed of Ron, and Ginny of Luna, and both were left lonely.

They talked some, after that, but of other things, like quidditch and exams and politics. Then they went to bed.

Ginny had been hoping desperately that this year wouldn't be one where everything changed suddenly, but it was. She had been thinking foolishly that maybe this would be a relatively peaceful end to the year- maybe without threats of doom- but she was disappointed.

She was lured into a sense of false relaxation by the end of exams, and then she had felt her DA coin burn hot in her pocket. She was pure luck she even had it with her— she had only had it because she was using it as a good luck charm for her OWLS. And then came the short battle, and everything seemed lost, because Dumbledore was dead, and how could the Light win without Dumbledore? It seemed miraculous that the world was continuing at all. No-one had died-excepting the obvious- but Bill had been scarred. Permanently.

It was the end of another year. It had been a tough one, but Ginny wasn't pleased, because at this point, it could only get worse.


	6. Chapter 6 Part One

**A.N.**

 **Hey there lovelies! Here's your new chapter! as always, please review and thank you so much for reading! I've gotten almost 20 story followers and I'm super psyched about it— thank y'all so much! *hugs and kisses you all virtually* By the way, I'll be on vacation this week so I might update a little late**

 **harrypottercrookshanks: Thank you so much! I thought it would be fun to include Hermione cause I think the two of them have an awesome relationship. I hope you like it :D again thanks a ton!**

 **chaosrin: Thank you so much for reviewing! I really really appreciate it :D And honestly, your ideas are SO awesome! I love the idea of Ginny being all kick-*ss and rescuing Luna from Malfoy Manor. Sadly, I already have the plotline planned out and I'm gonna stick a little closer to canon- as in Ginny is in hiding most of the year and doesn't really have the opportunity to rescue Luna. I'm not really too good at writing action. But honestly I love your idea so much so maybe I'll write another fic where that happens :D Again, thanks a bunch for the feedback!**

 **Guest: Aww thanks! :) You reviewing makes me so happy! And I feel sad about Dumbledore too— I cried when I read the book! But seriously, thank you SO MUCH for reading and reviewing this!**

 **MysteryRiddle: You'll see…. :D (thanks for reviewing btw!)**

 **NickWilde: Aww thanks! Of course, no offense is meant to the wonderful French people. And thank you for correcting my French, I never would have caught it! I'll add it to my list of edits. Also, now I'm very inspired because.. people are reading my story in other countries! And they actually like it! How amazing :D**

 **Y'all are amazing. Rock on!**

 **xoxo**

 **-S**

The ministry fell on the day of the wedding. Bill and Fleur had already exchanged vows. Everyone was dancing, laughing, enjoying the party. And then a silvery lynx burst into the celebration and spoke in Kingsley's voice:

 _The Ministry has fallen. Scrimgeour is dead. They are coming._

There was a moment of shocked silence, followed by instant panic. Most of the guests didn't really understand what was going on, but not message that ended with imminent doom was very good.

Ginny stood frozen for a minute, then sprang into action, trying to find her family. She had been getting some cake for herself and her mother, who was supposed to be sitting at the far-right table, but now; when Ginny looked there, her mother was gone. She saw a flash of red hair to her left, but it was Harry in disguise, running with Hermione. Where were they going? Everything was moving too quickly, everything was a blur.

Ginny saw Harry, Hermione and Ron vanish. It would be the last time she'd see them for almost a year. She saw Luna disappear with her father, and felt a moment's relief. She saw the dark figures appearing all around them. She saw a few red beams shoot out from steady wands and saw a few people fall. She saw Fleur running toward an unconscious Bill, and then the two of them had disappeared also. The space was clearing rapidly, and Ginny still couldn't find her family. She thought she saw a dark figure take off their hood, but then someone grabbed her wrist from behind. She tried to reach for her wand, but too soon the sucking feeling of Disapparition began.

She appeared again, in darkness. Immediately she lost her balance and fell.

"You alright Ginny?" said a familiar voice.

"Fred?" she said, squinting her eyes to try and see.

"Yeah," came the response. He must have turned on the lights somehow, because a dull glare suddenly streamed from the ceiling, revealing a small, shabby room and Ginny's brother, looking pale and worried.

"Listen," said Fred urgently. "You stay here. I'm going back, to- to see if everyone's alright. Did you see anyone else?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, still a little dazed. "Ron was with Hermione and Harry. They're gone now. And Bill.."

"He was only stunned,"

"Thank God," said Ginny. "Hang on- what do you mean stay here? Where is here anyway? I'm going with you,"

Fred looked at her for a moment in surprise. "It's my flat, of course. I guess you've never been here before.." his expression hardened. "But it'll be easier to- if-" He seemed lost for words.

"We'll both go back," said Ginny. "To the Burrow. And see what's going on,"

"Fine,"

They Apparated back to the Burrow, and for a moment it seemed as though all hope was lost, for it was empty. Then Charlie came, coughing, out of the fireplace.

"You two- come with me now," he said, looking around nervously.

"Where to?" "Where's everyone else?" said Fred and Ginny simultaneously.

"We have to go _now_ ," said Charlie, grabbing Fred's arm and pulling them along. Ginny whipped out her wand and aimed it at Charlie.

"I want proof first," she said.

Charlie looked inexplicably sad for a moment. "Remember your eighth birthday? When your cake mysteriously disappeared and you blamed Fred and George for it? That was me, I was practicing Transfiguration and it ended up as a Quaffle. Now come on," He reached down to the Floo powder next to the fire place. Ginny did likewise.

"What?" said Fred. Ginny threw powder at him, and Charlie pulled all three into the fireplace and shouted "Aunt Muriel's!" and they once more traveled into the strange in-between land that makes up the roads of magical voyage.

They emerged into Muriel Prewett's stuffy, frilly living room. Aunt Muriel, George and Molly were sitting on the sofa, but Molly jumped up as soon as they arrived.

"Thank goodness you're alright," she said anxiously, enveloping each of them in a tight hug.

"We're fine Mum," said Fred. "And Ginny saw Ron, he's alright too. Disapparated. Where's Bill and Dad? Why are we here anyway?"

"Fleur Disapparated with Bill," said Molly. "Arthur came with us, but he said the Burrow wasn't safe. He went back to make sure everyone got out alright,"

Ginny's father appeared a few minutes later, and explained more of the situation, although a lot of it was slowly discovered over the course of weeks. The Burrow was being watched, as were all the members of the family. After the first week, they were able to go back, since the Ministry was monitoring them anyway. Bill and Fleur went to Shell Cottage instead. Ron was not to be found, although his hand on the clock would often point to "Traveling", when it wasn't on Mortal Peril.

The Ministry had been take over completely, and her father was immediately fired.

Ginny had assumed she wasn't going back to Hogwarts, but now it was illegal not to attend, so she ended up on the Hogwarts Express on September first. It felt like a piece of normalcy in such strange times, at first, but it wasn't the same- students no longer whispered about gossip, they whispered about who was alive and who was dead and who was imprisoned, which was probably worse. The teachers taught, but none of the regulars ever punished them, because the punishments were terrible. For the first time, it seemed as though the teachers were on their side.

Meanwhile, Snape ruled with an iron fist.

It took Ginny all of a week to decide to bring back the D.A. Conditions were miserable, and there was only one way to defy the new order. She gathered Luna and Neville, and the few remaining members from before. They no longer let anyone below sixteen join- the risk was too great.

For a few months, they fought. They snuck out at night and graffitied the building. They rescued students from "detentions". Before, they had been preparing, but now they fought.

They had a few close calls. Once Neville had to camp out in the kitchens for hours, as the Carrows never thought to look there. A few days before Halloween, Ginny ended up with Hannah Abbott for five hours at night on the roof of the Astronomy tower, while Filch hunted beneath. They escaped, though, with nothing but a half-hearted admonish and wink from Professor Sprout, who caught them there early in the morning.

Meanwhile, Ginny fell hopelessly and uselessly in love. What was an embarrassing crush became a lot time Luna walked into a room, Ginny's heart would beat faster. She found herself noticing all the tiny details of Luna- the way her hair curled slightly at the ends, the way she had a few faint freckles dusted on her nose, the way her eyebrows would arch so evenly.

But at the same time, Ginny resolved not to act. It was a strange, cold sort of feeling, but something told her to wait. True love would come after the battle had been fought. It was too dangerous, too fragile now for anything like a relationship to form. And besides, she ought not to spoil the friendship for Luna.

Last year, she had thought a lot about Gryffindor bravery, and how taking risks was important, and how it was necessary to be open about these things. But now, faced with the need for true bravery, it just didn't seem so important.

At least, that was what she told herself, until Luna walked in again, at which point all rationality stopped. It was doubtful that Ginny would have lasted long, but then the Christmas holidays came.

It wasn't much of a Christmas. Before, they had been nine; now, they were six. Percy was still in the Ministry. Bill was with Fleur. Ron was missing.

Ginny was also very depressed, because a Ministry investigation had just begun into the family. Which meant that soon, they would all likely be arrested. Unless they went into hiding with the old hag known as Muriel.

When Ginny faced the prospect that she now would have to spend an indefinite amount of at her Aunt Muriel's, when she had expected to go back to Hogwarts, she thought she would rather prefer being arrested.

 **A.N.**

 **Originally this chapter was gonna be longer, but I needed to post it before the end of today, so the next one will be a little longer than average (update might be a little late though) I know this chapter is a little weird, but it'll be more balanced once I update. Anyway, have a nice day y'all!**


	7. Chapter 6 Part Two

**A.N: Hey there readers :D I hope you're having a nice summer! Here's Chapter Six, part two! I think after this I'll finish with 7 and 8, and then edit it. I can't believe I'm almost to the end! It's been so much fun, and thank y'all so much for reading this! Please review :) By the way, I won't be able to update next week, but I haven't abandoned you! Next chapter should be up the week after that.**

 **harrypottercrookshanks: Thank you so much! You're always so encouraging! And I really like that idea. I think I'll write Chapter 8 from Luna's point of view, since it's the end and all. Some of this chapter is kinda from her point of view anyway. Thank you :D**

 **Guest: aaahh you're too sweet! Your review makes me so happy. I totally agree with you- I always wondered why I liked sad things even though they make me sad? There's a nice quote from Doctor Who- "Sadness is happiness for deep people," which I like. Anyway, I'm glad you like my story! This chapter is sad, but I promise it has a happy ending!**

 **MysteryRiddle: Uggh, I know right? Ginny can be very silly sometimes. I put it down to her being head-over-heels in love. Which I guess is my fault, since I'm the author XD But I promise, their "friendship" is gonna change very soon…XD thanks for reviewing btw! They always make my day and everyone is so nice! It's very sweet of you :D**

Somehow, Ginny survived. She wasn't sure exactly how she did it- it being living with her aunt and various family members in one house and not being able to leave for many months- but she did. Maybe it was because compared to everybody else's problems (like staying alive or not getting arrested) were worse and made hers small by comparison. Maybe it was because she could pretend they were just staying over for the holidays, and they could leave soon. Sometimes, though, she would think about it too much and realize that really, there was no limit to how long they could stay. They might have to stay years. They might have to stay until Ginny was as old as Aunt Muriel, and wasn't that a scary thought?

Ginny decided that once she came of age she was leaving, to fight in the war and live a little.

That is, if the war was still going by August. She hoped it would be; it didn't seem like the Light could win without years of work, and the enemy winning was unimaginable.

Ginny spent about six months in hiding, but she didn't remember much of it. The few days afterward overshadowed it completely. Mostly she recalled being bored all the time, and having a constant knot in her belly.

Some days it was better, like when spring rolled around and Bill expanded the wards so they ate every meal outside for a week, until a Death Eater was spotted nearby, and they ate inside again.

Some days it was worse, like the day she learned Luna was captured. It occurred over the Easter holidays, but they didn't learn about it for two weeks.

Ginny herself felt numb. She didn't eat her dinner and left once the news came, upstairs to the bedroom she shared with her aunt.

She shut the door and sat on her makeshift bed. Her hands were shaking. She focused on breathing. Panicking wouldn't help anything, would it? She felt tears stinging her eyes, but Ginny didn't cry. Crying didn't help things, she had learned that five years ago. Life would go on, it always did.

Except.. Ginny didn't think she could live without Luna. Luna was why she was living- it wasn't a choice, Luna was just a part of her- her conscience, maybe, but more her sense of wonder, her quirkiness, her defiance- all that came from Luna.

Being separated from her for months had taken its toll. Ginny missed her terribly. There was nothing to do, nothing to distract her from the fact that she hadn't seen Luna in months. And now it was worse, a thousand times worse, because Luna could be hurt, or dying, or dead. Images flooded Ginny's mind and the tears spilled out against her will. She wiped them away angrily. Ginevra Weasley did not _weep_ like some little kid, all that had disappeared years ago. She was tougher now, more grown-up. Ginevra Weasley took action.

She would not think about Luna right now. She couldn't. Not about her strange beauty, not about her laugh that Ginny hadn't heard in ages but remembered perfectly, not about her terrible singing voice, not about her quiet compassion. Not about how Luna was probably already dead, not about the fact that Ginny might never see her again, not about the fact that Luna might be hurt and scared and _so alone._

She didn't have time. Not now. She needed to get Luna out first.

As it happened, at the time Ginny was thinking all this, Luna was thinking of Ginny. Luna was fairly sure that she was in grave danger, and was surprised to find that she was quite scared, too.

Funny how the human mind works. You can get used to constant threat of death pretty quickly, actually. Luna had become accustomed to it in a few days, but Luna was odd.

She found comfort in thinking of good memories. Remembering the good times made today a little more tolerable, and made her look forward to the future a little more. And Ginny was in an awful lot of her good memories.

Spending two weeks in Death Eater captivity changed her romantic life too. Luna decided that, if she ever got out of this, she would tell Ginny that she was in love with her, that had she had been as long as she could remember. Life was too short to do otherwise. It would probably be completely unrequited and Ginny might never speak to her again, but Luna was tired of waiting.

Ginny spent about a week planning a rescue attempt, which was a formidable feat, since she didn't know Luna's location, or any helpful information, actually. If she didn't find out soon, she'd probably just say to hell with it and storm some well-known Death Eater hold and rescue Luna. Singlehandedly.

Luckily, word came from Shell Cottage that Luna was there, and perfectly fine, and not to reply because there were spies everywhere. The rest of the message was sort of garbled- something about goblins and elves and Ginny's ex Dean Thomas- but Ginny didn't care. She was joyful, blissful, exuberant. It didn't matter that she was trapped in this house, that there was a war on, that she couldn't even talk to Luna, because _Luna was alive and whole and alive._ Why had she never appreciated that before?

Life was more tolerable for a time. There was a new baby, Teddy Lupin, and everything seemed much brighter suddenly. Ginny laughed aloud the day she came downstairs and Fred told her that somebody had broken into Gringotts and escaped on the back of a dragon.

That night, news came that there was a battle. Fred and George were about to go fight, when they made the mistake of telling Ginny she couldn't come.

It didn't take much more than a glare to set that rights, and Ginny found herself whisked off to fight in a war at sixteen, at Hogwarts of all places.

And then her heart stopped, because a beautiful girl with huge eyes and blonde hair was smiling and talking to someone.

" _Luna?_ " she said. Then she was running, and it looked like Luna was running too, and then Ginny swept Luna into a hug, and for a moment all was right with the world.

Actually, Luna had intended to kiss Ginny, but Ginny had hugged her instead, and at that point it would have been awkward to change.

Luna pulled back and looked Ginny in the eyes. "Ginny," she said, "I've got to tell you something,"

"Yeah," said Ginny breathlessly, suddenly remembering that she had a confession to make. "Yeah, me too,"

"Um ladies," said Neville, "Now might not be the best time- due to the coming battle and all,"

Ginny didn't really have time to appreciate the fact that death was a very real threat before the battle began, and then she didn't think at all, only fought and bled and wept until it was over.

After, Luna wanted to kiss Ginny desperately, to wipe away her tears and tell her everything was going to be alright.

After, Ginny had forgotten the confession she meant to make. She had forgotten everything except her brother, lying dead upon the floor. Nothing else mattered anymore.


	8. Chapter 7Epilogue

**A.N.- hey there lovelies, here's Chapter Seven/the epilogue- I'm all done! This has honestly been so much fun and I can't believe I'm finished with it! I'll have to write another story soon. Do you guys have any ideas? Anyway, thank you so SO much for reading and favoriting and following and reviewing this, you guys are the best, and you really made this an awesome experience. Please review once more and let me know what you think of this last chapter and the epilogue! 3 i love y'all so much. Thank you!**

 **harrypottercrookshanks: I wanted to say thank you to you especially, because you've been reviewing for every chapter and honestly it's been really encouraging. You're the best! Also, did you mean to just leave "er" as a review last time? Not that that isn't a good review, haha.**

 **Ilovepi: Thank you for reviewing! :D I always thought that Ginny and Luna would make a really cute couple. Luna is exactly what Ginny needs, don't you think? I hope you like this chapter XD**

 **Luchy: I know! I got kinda sad writing it, haha. Thank you for reading this and reviewing! 3**

 **Guest: Hello again! Thank you for reviewing dear, it really made my day! I have to admit I always thought Fred's death was the saddest in the series.. I don't know why I made myself sad like this… I originally intended to just write the story from Ginny's P.O.V., but it kind of ran away from me and here we are… :D**

 **mergirl007: thank you! I was nervous about writing Ginny's discovery of being bi, because its such a personal thing you know? And I didn't know how to make it realistic. But now you've reassured me :) I like the idea of Ginny and Luna going to the Yule Ball together too, that actually kinda started this whole fic. And poor Neville.. he's kinda the third wheel. Anyway thanks so much hon have a great day!**

Seventh year was.. different. Obviously. Now that it was no longer under an oppressive military regime, some things had to change. But really it was different from the other years too- the years before the war.

For one thing, Hogwarts itself was still in ruins in parts of it. Students didn't eat in the Great Hall until a month after school started, because there was still a danger of it collapsing. The Room of Requirement seemed to be destroyed, too, until one day in December when it suddenly appeared again. Even though the summer had been devoted entirely to repairs, though, the castle was still falling apart in places.

Some of the students felt like they were falling apart, too. People were nervous. A lot of students didn't even bother going to the Halloween feast- bad things always seemed to happen on Halloween, and it brought back too many memories, sitting at the tables and seeing the faces that weren't there.

Too many people were missing. Of course, you'd remember the important ones first- you'd remember your friends and family who died. But then it would jump up on you, and suddenly you'd realize that that girl in Care of Magical Creatures who always asked the funny questions wasn't there anymore, or that boy who used to borrow your telescope hadn't ever come back.

The house lines had been reduced somewhat, too. All the dormitories had been shaken up. Hermione Granger and Parvati Patil both ended up in the 7th year Gryffindor dorm, although technically it was their eighth year. Both had missing last year, and neither wanted to be in the same room with Lavender Brown's empty bed.

Padma Patil had lost a few friends too, so most nights she would come over to talk with her twin and sleep over. From there, it sort of snowballed: Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs, even a few Slytherins joined the Gryffindors, and soon they ended up sleeping in the Common Room most nights, and then switching Common Rooms completely. The Hufflepuff dorm was most peoples favorite; it was warm and cozy and conveniently near the kitchens.

At any rate, this new arrangement had Ginny and Luna sleeping near to each other often. So on the nights that Ginny woke up, crying so hard she couldn't speak, Luna would be there to hold her hand and give her a hug. And on the nights when Luna would wake up with a shudder and would stare into crackling fire, thinking of those weeks in a dungeon, Ginny would be there to yank her to her feet, spin her around, and sneak her out to a late-night snack in the kitchens.

On one such occasion, Filch almost caught them, and they ended up hiding in a broom closet. Neither of them were exactly scared of Flich- both had seen a lot worse than one crabby caretaker- but it was sort of nice that their biggest worry was getting an extra detention, and fun to whisper and hide like a couple of kids.

Anyway, the broom closet proved smaller than anticipated. Ginny and Luna were packed quite tightly in. Ginny was trying very hard not to think of doing anything stupid, like kissing Luna on the mouth, perhaps, but they _were so close_ and suddenly it was very warm and Luna accidentally brushed her hand past Ginny's face and-

"I think he's gone," said Luna serenely.

"Oh- oh yeah- um-" said Ginny, flushing. She tried the door, and swore. "It's locked,"

Luna pulled her wand out from behind her ear. "Alohomora," she said, and the door swung open.

"Oh," said Ginny, stumbling out into the hallway. "Why- why didn't I think of that?" Perhaps she was distracted because Luna was looking fantastically beautiful and was fantastically close, but that was hardly an appropriate reason to mention-

"I don't know," said Luna replacing her wand. Then she looked at her friend with concern. "Are you alright, Ginny? You're looking sort of red. Are you sick?"

"I'm fine Luna," said Ginny, weakly. "Luna?"

"Yes," said Luna absently, walking towards the kitchen.

"Never mind," said Ginny, walking after her. _Never mind,_ she though to herself. _That's right. Don't mess this up. Take it slow._

Of course, this plan back fired completely.

A few minutes later, they were sitting in the kitchens, the house elves scurrying around them. Ginny was eating a banana eclair pensively, thinking of unrequited love, and Luna was watching her.

"You're beautiful," said Luna at last.

Ginny dropped her eclair in shock. A smudge of banana filling was on the corner of her mouth, and her face was turning bright red. "Wh-what did you say?"

"I said you're beautiful," said Luna. She was looking at Ginny as one looks at a magnificent piece of art.

Ginny's mind seemed to have slowed, and spun off on two tracks. One track was chanting the mantra: "Luna thinks I'm beautiful! _Luna_ thinks I'm beautiful! Luna thinks I'm _beautiful_!" in a sort of giddy voice. The other track was feeling sort of annoyed. _Ginny_ was the Gryffindor, and _Ginny_ was the one who was supposed to wildly declare her love. Luna wasn't supposed to start their romance, Ginny was!

Ginny's natural competitiveness won over, and before Luna could say anything else, Ginny leaned over quickly and kissed her on the mouth.

Around them, the few house-elves who were up were very embarrassed. One brave one tried to get Ginny's attention, and failed.

"Ginny," said Luna, into Ginny's ear, "The house-elves are upset,"

"Huh?" Ginny pulled back and looked around, and blushed. Again. "Oh- I'm sorry- um-"

But the house elves were already pushing them out the door. Ginny got rather roughly shoved out, actually.

"There's no need to push!" she called back, vaguely in the direction of the house elves. Then she looked at Luna and looked away immediately.

"Luna," she said desperately, "I'm really sorry- I didn't mean to," Granted, Luna didn't seem very unhappy with Ginny in the kitchens- Ginny was almost positive she had been kissing back- but maybe-

Luna laughed. "That's okay," she said. "I didn't mind,"

"You didn't?" said Ginny, shocked.

"Not at all," said Luna, grabbing Ginny's wrist and pulling her away, possibly to another broom closet.

 **Epilogue**

 **Three years later**

A lot had changed. The wizarding world had been making its way steadily to some sort of stability, and Ginny had graduated and gotten onto the Holyhead Harpies. Also, she was getting to married to Luna Lovegood.

It was funny how stuff like that happened. It had taken forever for Ginny to get up the nerve to kiss Luna- seven years really- and then it had felt natural and easy, and soon they were going on dates and doing silly couples things. Ginny had also agonized over telling people, too, but this was more of a "screw-it-I-am-who-I-am" declaration instead of a "holy-heck-I-hope-she-likes-me" declaration, and Ginny was generally better with anger than other emotions.

Hermione was the first person she had told. Hermione hadn't even looked up, only muttered "about time," and went on studying for her N.E.W.T.S. If that reaction was a little disappointing, Ron's made up for it: he didn't believe her at first, and then he started laughing and ended up looking very impressed.

"Luna's nice," he said eventually. "A bit strange I suppose. One might almost say.. queer,"

Ginny smacked him.

Molly and Arthur were moderately surprised themselves, but Molly immediately welcomed Luna into the family. Her other brothers all ended up being supportive too. Things progressed naturally, and on her nineteenth birthday, Ginny asked Luna to marry her. Luna agreed. Apparently she had been under the impression that they were already going to get married, and this was nothing new.

"I always knew you'd ask me eventually," she said, and kissed Ginny sweetly.

And then the day came. Luna looked radiant and ethereal, wearing a silver dress that made her seem to float. She violets in her hair instead of a veil, and had insisted Ginny do the same.

"I love you, Ginny," she said softly, later, after the ceremony.

Ginny grinned.

"Attention, everyone!" she said loudly, jumping on a nearby chair and nearly tearing her dress in the process. "I have a very important announcement to make. I have married the most beautiful, the most kind, the best witch ever to walk the earth! And we are going to dance!"

Ginny half fell, half leaped out of her chair to riotous applause. Music began- the good kind, electric and exciting and wild- and Ginny pulled Luna out onto the dance floor. Memories spun through her mind- Ginny and Luna waltzing on the train, sneaking into the Yule Ball, fighting side by side in the Department of Mysteries, kissing to the dismay of the house-elves in the kitchen, and finally, finally, hearing those three words.

"I love you, Luna Lovegood," said Ginny, and began to dance.


End file.
